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Epidemiological studies suggest that vitamin D deficiency is common in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT). They have higher levels of serum parathyroid hormone (PTH) and markers of bone turnover and fractures are more frequent than vitamin D-replete patients. However, there are concerns that Vitamin D repletion might exacerbate pre-existent hypercalcaemia. Therefore, we aimed to determine if vitamin D replacement improved biochemical indices of calcium metabolism without worsening underlying hypercalcaemia. This is a prospective, observational study based on routine clinical practice, set up in a secondary care centre. 45 consecutive patients with mild biochemical hypercalcaemia due to PHPT and hypovitaminosis D were enrolled. The mean age of the cohort was 61 years (range 25–85 years), predominately Asian (32 patients) and female (41 patients). They received 20,000 IU of oral cholecalciferol, once a week, for 3 months. Calcium, phosphate, alkaline phosphatase and PTH were measured at baseline, 4, 8 and 12 weeks following treatment. Vitamin D levels were obtained at baseline and at 12 weeks, after they completed their treatment. Vitamin D levels normalised at week 12 (mean ± SD, 18.8 ± 9.4 versus 76 ± 20 nmol/L, p = 0.0001) and PTH levels improved following treatment completion (21.2 ± 10 versus 16.2 ± 6 pmol/L, p = 0.026). There was no significant increase in serum calcium levels during vitamin D supplementation. High doses of oral cholecalciferol normalised vitamin D levels without worsening underlying hypercalcaemia in individuals with PHPT.

Item memory and memory for spatial location were examined in college students, mildly retarded persons and moderately retarded persons. They performed under semantic or nonsemantic encoding instructions to remember pictures presented in a large book. Recall and relocation (unexpected) tests followed immediately after studying the pictures and, again, 24 h later. Mildly retarded persons were deficient in memory for items (effortful processing), but not in memory for location (automatic processing). Moderately retarded persons were deficient in both types of memory. Additionally, there were IQ-related differences in the long-term memory of location information, as well as item information. Location memory, as opposed to item memory, was shown to be (1) sensitive to encoding instruction, (2) insensitive to differences in intelligence, and (3) more sensitive to long-term forgetfulness.

SummaryResults of experiments are given which show that for optimum growth in rats, it is necessary to add at least one factor besides vitamin A to the U.S.P. Vitamin A-free diet. This factor, which has been described by other investigators, is present in liver extract. Replacement of half of the casein in the basal diet either with pork or sardine meal was likewise effective and the addition of liver extract to these ingredients did not give any added benefit. Unfortunately, extraction with ether failed to remove the vitamin A from blood fibrin to make possible its use. Excepting the groups fed blood fibrin the sardine meal diet with supplements promoted the best gains of all the remaining groups.

The relation between cognitive rigidity and cognitive inertia was examined. Results showed that cognitive inertia was greater in individuals with mental retardation than in CA- but not MA-matched subjects without mental retardation. For individuals with mental retardation, cognitive inertia was positively correlated with CA. Results of comparisons of MA-matched individuals with and without mental retardation were not consistent with Kounin's (1941) theory. However, the current findings provided some support for Kounin's notion that there are age-related inherent structural differences that lead to greater rigidity in older adults.

Two experiments confirmed and extended earlier research (Ellis, Woodley-Zanthos, Dulaney,Palmer, 1989) showing that persons with mental retardation are more rigid than persons without mental retardation. In Experiment 1 subjects read Stroop words, practiced naming the colors of Stroop words, and then read the Stroop words again. Postpractice reading interference was related to amount of practice, and the interference effect was much greater in persons with mental retardation. We hypothesized that the practice led to automatization of a reading suppression response that had greater cognitive inertia for persons with mental retardation and, therefore, had a greater effect on postpractice reading for them. This cognitive inertia effect was shown to be quite durable in persons with mental retardation, lasting more than 3 months for 10 of 13 subjects. The effect disappeared within a month for persons without mental retardation.

Summary and ConclusionsAbnormal embryos and chicks, with relatively short bones, were frequently produced in eggs laid by birds which received diets lacking in some factor or factors present in wheat germ, liver, and whey. The activity, amount or utilization of this factor or these factors was augmented by permitting the birds access to direct sunlight and green range.

ALTHOUGH many phases of the calcium metabolism of the chicken have been studied, very little attention has been given to the effect of the calcium and phosphorus content of the diet of laying pullets and hens on the production and hatchability of eggs. The purpose of this paper is to present data on this phase of the calcium and phosphorus metabolism of the chicken. These data demonstrate the deleterious effect, hitherto unsuspected, of a high level of calcium intake of laying chickens on the ability of their eggs to hatch, and they suggest that in practical poultry husbandry it is very desirable to control the calcium intake of laying chickens. LITERATURE Wheeler (1919) made many inorganic analyses of the shells of eggs and of the carcasses of chickens and ducks that had received calcium, magnesium, and strontium from several sources as supplements to their diet. He found that the diets . . .

INTRODUCTION SOYBEAN meal is widely used as a protein concentrate in the diet of laying fowls. Its value for egg production is not disputed. Hatchability of eggs produced by birds receiving diets containing soybean meal, at least that made from some varieties of soybeans, probably depends on the kinds and amounts of animal protein concentrates included in the same diet. Direct sunlight is a very important factor in the production of hatchable eggs. Byerly, Titus, and Ellis (1933) showed that meal made from the Mammoth Yellow variety of soybeans was inadequate for the production of eggs of high hatchability by semi-confined birds that received an all plant-source diet containing about 20 parts per 100 of the soybean meal. Subsequent studies have shown the Illini variety of soybean to be deficient in the same manner. Nestler, Byerly, Titus, and Ellis (1936) showed that the deficient factor in the diet used was . . .

BYERLY, Titus, and Ellis (1933) found that diets consisting of cereal grains, their by-products, alfalfa leaf meal, minerals, and cod liver oil are deficient in some factor, or factors, necessary for the production of eggs of high hatchability. This deficiency is satisfied by range, milk, and certain protein concentrates of animal origin, but not by certain protein concentrates of vegetable origin. Recent investigations by Halpin, Holmes, and Hart (1933) indicate that many diets for laying hens are deficient in vitamin G, and that the hatchability on such diets is low. Their basal diet, composed of yellow corn, oats, wheat bran, wheat middlings, meat scraps, common salt, and cod liver oil, plus scratch feed, grit, and crushed oyster shell, gave a hatchability of only 11 percent whereas the addition of skimmilk or chopped alfalfa hay to the diet raised the hatchability to over 70 percent. In order to determine if vitamin . . .

Nutritional factors are among the most important of those which determine the composition and quality of animal fats. The composition in terms of fat acid components and characterized by relative firmness, is more affected by ingested fat than by other dietary constituents. Various aspects of the problems of quality in lard and butter are discussed, as well as the relation of nutrition to the composition and quality of the body fats of sheep, cattle and poultry, and of the egg yolk fat of poultry.

Discrimination learning, memory, and transfer capacity were assessed in representative samples of institutionalized retarded persons in order to provide information on trainability. The 56 subjects were selected from moderately, severely, and two levels of profoundly retarded adults. They learned and relearned three successive two-choice discrimination problems. Generally, the higher functioning subjects, defined by IQ and adaptive behavior learned more rapidly than did the lower functioning subjects. Forgetting was related to IQ/adaptive behavior level. Interproblem transfer was negligible at all levels of retardation, but ceiling effects may have obscured positive transfer in the higher functioning groups. Backward learning curves revealed large differences between lower and higher functioning persons in the presolution trials, but once learning began even profoundly retarded subjects solved these problems as rapidly as did the moderately retarded subjects. Ten of the 56 subjects failed to learn all three problems.

Short-term memory of mentally retarded and nonretarded persons was compared in four experiments on the Brown-Peterson task in an attempt to relate short-term memory deficit to control or structural processes. Type of stimulus, pictures and letters, was varied along with encoding time. On pictures, with liberal encoding time, rate of forgetting did not differ. Retarded groups forgot letters more rapidly after limited encoding time. Increases in encoding time improved retention for retarded persons, but this variable did not normalize forgetting rate. In a direct comparison, retarded persons retained pictures better than letters. The converse was true for nonretarded persons. Evidence for both encoding and storage deficiencies of retarded persons was found. Differences in memory were found under conditions that precluded the use of voluntary cognitive strategies. These differences were interpreted as evidence for structural memory deficits of retarded persons.

Automatic and effortful processing by brain-injured and cultural-familially mentally retarded and nonretarded persons were compared in a letter priming task. Both retarded groups responded considerably slower than did the nonretarded group. Inhibitory effects due to a prime stimulus and facilitative effects following brief presentations of prime stimuli were similar for all groups. Facilitative effects remained at the same level for the nonretarded group but clearly continued to increase for the retarded groups along the longest presentation intervals. The findings were interpreted as showing similar automatic processing effects in all groups. Effortful processing by retarded persons, on the other hand, was slower to develop and possibly greater than that by nonretarded persons.

A modified Stroop Color-Word Interference Test (Stroop, 1935) was used to assess automatic-effortful processing in persons with mental retardation and college students in three experiments. In Experiment 1, retarded persons experienced greater Stroop interference than did college students. This was attributed to a failure of control (effortful) processing needed to suppress the automatic reading responses of retarded subjects. In Experiments 2 and 3, all subjects practiced the Stroop color-naming task over three or four daily sessions. Changes in Stroop interference over practice were viewed as reflecting automatization of the suppression of the reading response. Both groups automatized the suppression response at about the same rate, but the automatized responses had far greater and more durable suppression effects for retarded subjects. This persistence of automatized responses, which were no longer adaptive, was described as cognitive inertia, a phenomenon similar to cognitive rigidity as defined by Kounin (1948).

Two experiments extended earlier research showing age- and intelligence-invariance in memory for spatial location. Second and sixth graders, college students, and mildly retarded persons relocated pictures after looking through a 100-picture book. There were no differences due to age, IQ, or instruction (intentional or incidental) in location memory; there were differences in picture recall. In a second experiment persons with Down syndrome, as a group, were less accurate in location memory than were college students, but many individuals performed as accurately. A 3-month follow-up on the subjects with Down syndrome revealed greater consistency in location memory than in recall. Overall, the results show that young children and mildly mentally retarded persons process spatial location information as well as do college students. Some, but not all, of the more severely mentally retarded persons had deficits in processing memory for location. All persons with mental retardation had deficits in effortful processing as reflected by free recall.

Brooks and Baumeister (1977a, 1977b) have questioned the ecological validity of laboratory-type research on discrimination learning, memory, and other cognitive processes. Their criticisms were rebutted by House (1977). The present report established the relationship among learning and retention of two-choice discrimination tasks, "real-life" adaptive behavior in an institution, and IQ. These measures were substantially interrelated, and we concluded that laboratory-type discrimination-learning tasks have ecological validity.